Technology of Art

Art history runs on materials science as much as aesthetics, and this course traces how the physical and chemical properties of pigments, stones, clays, glass, and digital media have shaped what artists could actually make from cave walls to Banksy. You'll move through sculpture, painting, printmaking, ceramics, and new media chronologically, working on a series of small projects and a final piece while unpacking puzzles like why Leonardo's Last Supper is flaking off the wall or whether Vermeer used a camera obscura. As a third-year FA requirement it sits alongside your studio sequence, giving the technical literacy needed to make informed material choices in upper-level practice and thesis work.